Historic Landmarks Commission rejects Irish Cultural Center plan

The proposed Irish Cultural Center would sit on the vacant lot at the top of the hill seen here from the Rondout waterfront in Kingston, N.Y.
Tania Barricklo — Daily Freeman file

KINGSTON, N.Y. >> The city’s Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission has voted against construction of an Irish Cultural Center on Abeel Street as the project is currently proposed.

At a meeting Monday, the commission voted 4-3 against issuing a “preservation notice of action” for the proposed Irish Cultural Center. The preservation notice of action is required before construction can take place.

The project would also require approval from the city’s Planning Board, which still is considering the center’s proposed site plan.

Voting against issuing the preservation notice of action were commission Vice Chairwoman Marissa Marvelli and members Alan Baer, Jane Birmingham and Leslie Melvin. In favor were Chairman Mark Grunblatt and members Scott Davies and Julie Edelson-Safford.

Ronald Pordy, the attorney for the project, said the developers were disappointed with the commission’s decision. He said he would meet with his clients to decide how to respond.

During the meeting, Pordy had requested commission members explain their decisions in voting against the preservation notice of action. He indicated the developers would keep returning to the commission until receiving the necessary approval for the project.

The planned 16,213-square-foot Irish Cultural Center at 32 Abeel St. would include a 171-seat theater and a 70-seat pub. A banquet area had been dropped from the initial proposal.

The center, if approved, would be constructed on a 0.44-acre parcel bordered on two sides by private properties and to the rear by the city-owned Company Hill Path. It would overlook the Rondout Creek from the south side of the building.

In explaining her vote, Marvelli said she could possibly vote in favor of the project if the width of the proposed building was reduced. She said she was not comfortable giving a specific dimension, but indicated it should be reduced by at least 25 percent.

“I know the siting is difficult for me,” Melvin said of her vote. She said she did not know how developers would solve the placement issues she has. Melvin said she believes it is truly difficult to build a mixed-use building that would tie into both the residential neighborhood on Abeel Street in the front of the structure and the commercial neighborhood of West Strand at the rear.

Birmingham said her vote “goes back to the relation of the proposed building to other buildings surrounding it.” She said the proposed center is a large commercial mass between two residences.

Baer said that while he believes there are a lot of positive elements to the project, he is concerned with the structure’s overall proportion.

In January, the city Planning Board accepted an environmental assessment of the project that concluded the project would not harm the environment. As for the site plan, Planning Board Chairman Wayne Platte recently indicated the board would likely await the decision of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission before voting on the matter.